The background: It's not often that one truly great band breaks up and another, equally good but different one forms in their wake with some or all of the same members. In fact, we can only really think of New Order emerging from the crawling chaos that was Joy Division after the suicide of Ian Curtis, unless you count the New Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin, the Beatles and Wings or the Specials and Fun Boy Three, and maybe you should. The Northwestern comprise two members of Hope of the States (and the guitarist from the Open), and although their 2006 record Left was voted album of the year by one magazine they weren't quite in the Joy Division league. Nor do we see the Northwestern becoming as seismically important as New Order, but all credit to them for quitting while they still had legs, and a fanbase. "We never set out to be a career band. We didn't want to sully the memory of that band by doing it half-arsed. You can't fake it. We don't think you can make the same record over and over for 15 years and expect people to take you seriously," say HOTS properties Jones and Herlihy, obviously not alluding to Oasis whatsoever, remotely, at all.

Actually, the Northwestern sound a bit like Oasis had they been more into the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield than the Beatles, which in a roundabout way means they sound a bit like Teenage Fanclub. Imagine TFC doing Oasis songs, or vice versa. Their music also reminds us a little of New Order when they (insanely) chose to ditch shiny electro-pop for rock on their last two albums. Telephones and All the Ones, available on their debut single, as well as Dark Houses are actually better than that makes them sound. Originally written as HOTS tracks in a series of vodka-fuelled sessions by Jones and Herlihy when they were sharing a flat in north London, they have the keening quality of the best noise-pop. Herlihy's vocals recall Bernard Sumner in lost-naif mode, the guitars drone melodically, and the tunes are anthemic yet intimate, fast but not so furious that the lovely chord changes are drowned in sound. Their songs might career, but they're no careerists. "With this band, everything has become exciting again," they say. "We just lost that after a while with the other band, but now it just sounds like us as people and represents our situation. It feels like a new lease of life."

The buzz: "There's a tangible sense of rejuvenation and defiance that washes over you with baptismal purpose."

The truth: If you liked the output of Creation Records BG (Before Gallagher), you'll love the Northwestern.

Most likely to: Inspire other bands to rip it up and start again.

Least likely to: Inspire Anton Corbijn to make his second biopic.

What to buy: The double A-sided seven-inch, All the Ones/Telephones, is released by Friends Vs on 15 June.